Today I have two years' worth of write-ups to share. I've been reading quite a bit lately, but between one thing and another, I haven't been able to post. Fortunately, I recently had the bright idea to write notes about each fic as I finish it, rather than trying to write them all up from memory later. (Don't ask me why I didn't think of this ( Read more... )

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It's 2006. Shakira is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. New terms coined include: agender, birther, bucket list, crowdsourcing, demisexual, dumpster fire, gamification, SCOBY, and YouTuber ( Read more... )

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During the second 10 rounds of my Lifetime Fic Bingo game, 1996 to 2005, I read 56 fics. Of those, the five that I would most recommend today are:

The Assassin's Daughter by Lacey McBain (laceymcbain) (The Professionals; slash; 16,769 words)
Remember Me by Gil Hale (The Professionals; gen; 25,630 words)
To Live in Interesting Times by Taliesin (The Man ( Read more... )

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It's 2005. James Blunt is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. New terms coined include: butt-dial, glamping, locavore, microblogging, paleo, rage quit, ransomware, sexting, and truther ( Read more... )

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It's 2004, and I am graduating from high school. Usher is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Shrek 2. New terms coined include: aromantic, chonky, Dreamer, FOMO, life hack, paywall, podcast, sharing economy, social media, and waterboarding ( Read more... )

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It's 2003. Outkast is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. New terms coined include: binge-watch, dad bod, eggcorn, flash mob, level up, manscaping, muffin top, SARS, Skype, and unfriend.

For 2003 I read five fics: two Professionals and three Man from U.N.C.L.E..

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It's 2002. Eminem is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is Spider-Man. New terms coined include: airplane mode, burkini, emerald ash borer, goji berry, parkour, reggaeton, selfie, thumb drive, TL;DR, and vlog ( Read more... )

It's me again. My output of write-ups has fallen off a lot lately, but for happy reasons. Over the past two months I've been putting most of my energy into reviewing math. I have a bachelor's degree in math, but have been unable to engage with the subject for about fifteen years due to mental and physical illness. Lately, circumstances have ( Read more... )

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It's the year 2000, and pedants are making sure everyone knows that the new millennium will not start until next year. *NSYNC is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. New terms coined include: abandonware, climate change denial, downvote, faux-hawk, geochaching, google, grain bowl, speed dating, ( Read more... )

I've read around 200 works of fan fiction this year, totaling roughly 2.5 million words. Many of them have been excellent, but I thought it might be fun to pick some highlights on this New Year's Eve. Below are the fics that stood out the most in each of the categories listed, along with the comments I wrote after reading them.

( Read more... )